 |
DESCRIPTION
SwitchRes is a little utility built around a menu extra that will allow you to switch the resolution of all your monitors. SwitchRes already incorporates features from the Monitor Resolution, Monitor BitDepth, and Video Mirroring Control Strip Modules bundled with your system.
Features
- Create custom resolutions for using your Mac as a home theater, and plug into your HDTV.
- Create the custom resolutions needed to correclty use your MacMini in you car.
- Use a 1280x1024 resolution on an external monitor or video projector, on iMacs CRT or eMacs.
- Add 85Hz resolutions (or more!) on some badly detected monitors (eg: IIyama, etc.) where the OS only allows you to use 75Hz.
- Add only the resolutions that you need to the menu bar, and give them names that you can recognize quickly.
- Define settings for all your monitors in one set, and give them explicit names ("DVD", "Games")
- Let these settings be applied automatically when an application starts, and set back when the application ends.
- Save icons on your desktop automatically before a resolution change occurs, replace them after the change to an other saved position.
- Save positions and size of your windows, remember their position when you plug an external monitor, automatically back to the previous layout when you unplug the monitor.
- Rearrange your desktop icons on a grid, with finer precision than the Finder.
- SwitchResX can be scripted for resolutions and color depth changes. SwitchResX is even recordable: When it is running, every resolution change is automatically recorded in the script editor.
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
|
SCREENSHOT
|
|
 |
|  |
 | |  |
| SwitchResX User Reviews (29 posts) | Write A Review |
 | Mar 4 2009 |
XENOPHILE This might actually be useful if it could store "sets" containing both resolution settings and colorsync profiles. For now I'll just keep using Apple's menu item to switch resolutions. Nice try, though.
(Version 3.8.6) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Mar 4 2009 |
VERYVITO How does this offer anything different from the "Show displays in Menu bar" setting already in the Displays Preference panel?
(Version 3.8.6) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Jun 2 2009 |
D9 It allows you to customize display settings for resolutions that Mac OS X does not support natively. As the description alludes to, a good example is 1920 x 1080 HDTV. The standard OS X solution is either to reduce your overall screen coverage or use its Overscan setting which unfortunately causes the menu bar and anything else around the screen edges to go out of view. Plus it allows for creating display sets so you can switch with a single click or even keystroke; helpful for notebook users who go from laptop screen to desktop monitor to presentation projectors. | |
| Jan 5 2009 |
XENOPHILE APE is a system hack that is unsupported by Apple, meaning that it mucks with system-level internals in ways that Apple does condone, and more importantly, ways that Apple has not rigorously tested. To be fair, there is some controversy among geeks who know vastly more than I about OS X as to whether APE destabilizes OSX. So when you're up against a deadline, or you've labored for hours on a complex project since last backing it up, if it gives you a nice warm fuzzy feeling to contemplate a few OS X gurus arguing whether APE destabilizes your system or not, then go ahead and use APE. Me? I don't trust APE any further than I could throw a real ape.
(Version 3.8.5) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| May 1 2008 |
REVCO Huh? What wrong with APE? Me APEd for many years with no problem. Don't point finger at APE. APE good not bad.
(Version 3.8.2) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Apr 30 2008 |
Unsanity APE is an unsupported hack that accesses Mac OS X processes that Apple has delcared off limits. All too often, I've identified APE as a cause of system instability or application weirdness when troubleshooting Macs. Any potential user of APE needs to ask themselves if they really need the functionality it enables, and if so, can they afford extra system down time as the price for this functionality?
(Version 3.8.2) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
 | Dec 30 2007 |
MACINSPORE This software is downright dangerous and insane. Based on my testing you have a very high likelihood of getting an "out of range" error and the loss of your display. Recovery from this problem is NOT simple. 1st Reboot you Mac and hold down the command, option, p and r keys. If your lucky this will fix things (it did not for me) 2nd find another monitor, plug it in and reboot. This fixed things things on a G3 running Jaguar. 3rd hold down the option and S keys while rebooting your Mac and delete the "com.apple.windowserver.XXXXX.plist" exist file in your own /Users/yourname/Library/Preferences/ByHost folder. Time to test your knowledge of UNIX and the "rm" command But if this does not do the trick for you perhaps you could buy a new Mac or pay the Author, he claims he will try to help :-) I tried this software on 3 Macs and got the same error: two Intel Macs (Tiger and Leopard) and a G3 tower (Jaguar) (1 Compaq Monitor, 1 HP Monitor 1 Apple Studio Display) And yes I love too test software for the Mac, been doing so for over ten years. This software made me work hard to recover the display in each case. the Author seems to be a good fellow and has been around the Mac OS for years (probably longer than I have and thats a long time) - but frankly this software is not ready for prime time on the Mac OS X
(Version 3.8) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Dec 22 2007 |
SMTIPS Oh MAN!! I was just about to get this because for some stupid reason I can only get a 60Hz refresh rate through the Displays panel when my monitor supports 75Hz. I think it's stupid that a mac with a 256 Nvidia card will only show a single refresh rate available when the monitor will support higher. It's ALWAYS been a problem with Macs way back since System 7 that the res/refresh rates that COULD be supported weren't selectable in the system...DUHHHH on you apple!! Anyway....Unsanity APE has been known to cause FAR FAR too many issues. I refuse to use it, and you just lost my money...I was all ready to buy this til I saw the below comment...forget that APE CRAP.
(Version 3.7.11) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Oct 27 2007 |
JAMESKITTY Requires Unsanity's APE hack. I won't install it. Too bad the author can't find a way of programming this within Apple's rules.
(Version 3.7.10) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Mar 22 2006 |
APPLECRYPT MODS i wish the interface was better, but you had my reg money a while back and now it even works on intel mac!! Xcellent!
(Version 3.7.2) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Oct 6 2005 |
ORION I *hate* the tendency of games to always select stretched 4:3 resolutions on my Cinema Display, thus making everything look wider than it should be, and making me slighly nauseous. I looked everywhere for a program that would remove stretched modes from the list of resolutions. SwitchRes doesn't do that. It does have a feature that "disables" certain resolutions but it doesn't actually remove them from the list. When a program tries to switch to a disabled resolution, SwitchRes makes the switch silently fail, keeping the previous resolution. This is a bad thing -- for games this often means a bunch of garbage on the screen. But what SwitchRes does allow me to do is "redirect" a video mode to a different one. So, for instance, if a program tries to switch to 640 x 480 (stretched), I can have it actually switch to 640 x 480 (not stretched). This works like a charm. Now I can finally play all my games with the proper aspect ratio! Oh, and it also has a displays menu that isn't crippled like Apple's, but that's really just a bonus. For the ability to remove stretched video modes from my life, SwitchRes was well worth the $15.
(Version 3.6) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
 | Dec 9 2005 |
UMAROMC Edit the *.cfg files of most games and you can set the resolution to anything that supports 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10 ratios...
(Version 3.6.2) | |
|
| View all 29 posts >> |
|
